Month: January 2012

  • A Personal Reflection on the Last 6 Months of My Life

    A Personal Reflection on the Last 6 Months of My Life

    Today I turn 24, and by chance it also happens to be around the 6-month mark since I last got laid off my previous job and decided to pursue street photography full-time. I thought it might be a good opportunity for me to thank you guys personally for all your support and faith, and take a moment to reflect. Please watch the video above where I talk a bit about my fortunes, misfortunes, and the amazing journey I have been blessed with.

    People I would like to especially thank in no particular order (sorry if I forgot to include your name!):

    • Loryne Atoui
    • Thomas Leuthard
    • Charlie Kirk
    • Bellamy Hunt
    • Damien Rayuela
    • Jason Gritjas
    • Adam Marelli
    • Souvik De
    • Jason Martini
    • Todd Hatakeyama
    • My mom!
    • Cindy Nguyen
    • JJ Viau
    • Christian Erhardt
    • Adam Rahim
    • Jasime Aum
    • Tom Britcha
    • Jacob Patterson
    • Neil Ta
    • Kaushal Parikh
    • Ryan Ong
    • Alfie Goodrich
    • Danny Santos
    • Dav Cheng
    • Rinzi Ruiz
    • Ryan Cabal
    • ABC
    • Kevin WY Lee
    • Ivan Wong
    • Leonard Goh
    • Chris Gampat
    • Josh White
    • Dani Kim
    • David Kim
    • Mijonju
    • Angelo De Mesa
    • My sister (Anna Kim)
    • Olivia Lee
    • Jinhwan Roh
    • Luke Ding
    • Holly Pyon
    • Brian Reilly
    • Francoise Callier
    • And to all of you!

    Wish me a happy birthday with film!

    If you have gotten something meaningful out of this blog or I have helped you on your personal street photography journey, please wish me a happy birthday and consider getting me some film to work on my future projects! I would love some Portra and some Tri-X!

    Love you all,

    Eric

  • Things I Learned About Self-Publishing, by Self-Publishing by Kramer O’Neill

    Things I Learned About Self-Publishing, by Self-Publishing by Kramer O’Neill

    Till human voices wake us

    Eric’s Note: I am pleased to have street photographer Kramer O’Neill share in this guest blog post his experiences about self-publishing two of his books. It is an incredibly difficult process–check out what he learned through the process in the post below!

    Kramer: In 2011, I designed, printed, and distributed two photo books: Pictures of People and Things 1, an A5-sized paperback, and Till Human Voices Wake Us, a large-format hardcover. The two books are quite different: Pictures of People and Things is an associatively-edited, diverse collection of photos that work as two-page diptychs, while Till Human Voicesis a narrowly-focused, abstract, semi-narrative aquatic series in the street photography tradition, about swimming and the dark pull of the ocean. In both cases, though, I had no idea what I was getting into. In the interest of spreading some knowledge to other would-be self-publishers, here are a few things I learned.

    (more…)

  • Kip Praslowicz Shooting Medium and Large-format Street Photography [Video]

    Kip Praslowicz, a very active street photographer in the community, recently got filmed by PBS on his street photography and portraiture work. Check out the video to find out more about Kip’s approach and thoughts behind street photography and portraiture (and his love for medium-format and large-format film).

    Check out more of Kip’s work at: http://www.kpraslowicz.com/

  • Why Street Photographers Should Print in the Darkroom

    Why Street Photographers Should Print in the Darkroom

    Darkroom printing by Trevor

    Eric’s Note: This article is by Trevor Marczylo, a street photographer based out of Winnipeg. He is actually heading out to Korea soon, so after reading this article, make sure to wish him a safe trip!

    Trevor: The other night I stayed up until 5am printing. I was working on this one shot that took me about 4 tries to get right; burn here, dodge there. I couldn’t stop till I had just the right print. In this digital age where I could achieve what I want on my Mac in just 5 minutes, why should street photographers continue to print black and white in the darkroom? Read more and find out!

    (more…)

  • CritiqueMe #2: Gustavo Mondragon

    CritiqueMe #2: Gustavo Mondragon

    Eric’s Note: CritiqueMe is an on-going street photography critique series by Ollie Gapper, a street photographer based in the UK. 

    Ollie: For this weeks CritiqueMe I chose to comb through the work of prolific Tweeter, Gustavo Mondragon. I was sucked into the portrayla of life Mondragon presents from his hometown of Mexico City. I always find it interesting to see, not only different lifestyles, but those lifestyles presented by someone who actually lives them.

    (more…)

  • How to Start Your Own Street Photography Project

    How to Start Your Own Street Photography Project

    (Above image by Alex Webb from his Istanbul Book)

    Something I have becoming more focused on is working on street photography projects. Street photography projects are important because they help you stay focused when shooting, and help you make more of a statement with a collection of images (rather than just individual images). If you have never started your own street photography project (or want some inspiration), keep reading to learn how you can start your own street photography project!

    (more…)

  • David Gibson: “I’m Still Learning Through Teaching” By Ollie Gapper

    David Gibson: “I’m Still Learning Through Teaching” By Ollie Gapper

    In this post I’m honoured to have the privilege to present an interview with one of the original members of In-Public and practicing street photographer, David Gibson. David’s work is among the strongest I’ve seen from a practicing contemporary street photographer, and has inspired me to refine my eye even more, to try and make images as graphically enthralling as his.

    (more…)

  • “Discover Your Unique Street Photography Style” Intermediate Workshop in Downtown LA with Eric Kim, Rinzi Ruiz, and Jordan Dunn(2/3-2/5)

    Are you an avid street photographer seeking to develop your own unique photographic vision and stand out from the crowd?

    To this day, there are countless street photographers pounding the pavement and shooting anything that moves with their cameras and smartphones.  How does one stand out from the crowd?  How does one build a strong, unique look to their photos to make them memorable and worthwhile to look at?  How does one get photos worthy of gallery exhibitions and photobooks?

    To find out, join me at my intensive intermediate street photography workshop to be held in Downtown LA from February 3rd to the 5th in association with the Hatakeyama Gallery. 

    (more…)

  • Why Street Photographers Need To Take Themselves More Seriously

    Why Street Photographers Need To Take Themselves More Seriously

    Elliot Erwitt

    (Above image by Magnum Photographer Elliott Erwitt)

    I consider myself first a sociologist, then a photographer. If anything, being a street photographer allows me to synthesize these two loves. On top of that, I am a lover of knowledge, theory, experimentation, as well as teaching. Fortunately being able to teach street photography for a living makes my life fulfilled.

    I am currently reading an essay by Howard Becker (a famous sociologist) who also happened to be interested in art worlds (and especially photography). He is the author in which most of the sociological backbone of my upcoming UC Riverside Online course is coming from when teaching some of the theory behind street photography.

    (more…)

  • CritiqueMe #1: Nicolas Hermann

    CritiqueMe #1: Nicolas Hermann


    Eric’s Note: This is part of an on-going critique series called “CritiqueMe” by Ollie Gapper. Enjoy the feature below! 

    Ollie Gapper: Well I’d like to first off say thank you to everyone who took the time to enter for the first installment of CritiqueMe, I’ve had the great pleasure of looking at some truly fantastic work. I’d also like to congratulate Nicolas Hermann for being selected! The reason I chose Nicolas for the first installment of CritiqueMe is that I wanted to be really challenged for finding points for improvement (not that some of the work you guys turned in wouldn’t do the same) as the ones I would find will inevitably help a lot more of you.

    (more…)

  • 10 Reasons Why You Should Shoot Street Photography With Film

    10 Reasons Why You Should Shoot Street Photography With Film

    (Above image by Devin Yalkin)

    Recently when I went to Tokyo, I had a ton of fun shooting in the streets with Charlie Kirk and Bellamy Hunt—both who shoot film. I never really understood the rationale why people shot with film. To me at the time, it seemed like a burden. First of all, you had to buy the film. Secondly, after you took the photos you couldn’t see them instantly. And lastly, it was expensive to develop it (and even more money to scan). For these three reasons, I was mostly put off by film. Although I did shoot a bit with my Contax IIIa film rangefinder and did enjoy it—at the end of the day I preferred my digital camera.

    Nevertheless, I was intrigued with film once I came to Tokyo. In Tokyo, the analog culture is strong. There are tons of used film camera shops, and tons of other places where you can buy film as well. Not only that, but there are many photographers who shoot film who support one another as well and have their own communities. I had no idea how much influence the analog culture would have on me when I was in Tokyo.

    (more…)

  • “Proximity” Street Photography Exhibition + Advanced Workshop in Singapore 1/13-1/15

    “Proximity” Street Photography Exhibition + Advanced Workshop in Singapore 1/13-1/15

    I am excited to announce that I am having a street photography exhibition at the Leica Singapore store this upcoming Jan 13th at 7:00pm of some of my best photos from all around the world. If you are in the area, please feel free to stop by!

    Also I will be hosting an Advanced Street Photography Workshop in partnership with Leica Camera Asia Pacific on January 14-15th as well. The workshop will be focused on making your own street photography projects. Click the link below for more info!

    More information about the Singapore Workshop >> 

  • Mike Peters and The American Dream by Ollie Gapper

    Mike Peters and The American Dream by Ollie Gapper

    Mike Peters from his collection "Pursuit of Happiness"

    In this article I was fortunate enough to be able to conduct an interview through email with NY-based photographer Mike Peters. His style of street portraiture is one that has been attempted many times by many names, but never quite to the extent or success of Mike’s work. He is consistent and his work flows well together, but he is not held down by his style and does not limit himself in what he creates. I hope you guys enjoy his work and words as much as I have, and that you may find some inspiration in this article that will help guide and refine your work, I know I certainly have.

    (more…)

  • What the Black Swan and Unpredictability Can Teach You About Street Photography

    What the Black Swan and Unpredictability Can Teach You About Street Photography

    Matt Stuart

    (Above image by Matt Stuart)

    One of the books that has profoundly changed my understanding of the world is “The Black Swan” by Nassim Taleb. His thesis is that much of what happens in the world is by pure luck and randomness. He uses The analogy of the “black swan” is that scientists for hundreds of years assumed that because only because white swans were seen, no black swans existed. However the day that a black swan was discovered, their understanding of swans changed dramatically.

    In life there are two types of black swans: positiv black swans that bring us fortune, and negative black swans that bring us misfortune.

    Recently every book I have been reading (whether it be a finance book, an economics book, a sociology book, or philosophy book) I have been able to always link it back to street photography.

    (more…)